The present invention is generally directed to a battery charger and, more particularly, to a battery charger for cell phones and like mobile devices which is constructed to be detachably integrated with the body of the cell phone, with minimal alteration of the cell phone's weight and/or dimensions.
The present invention is rooted in the inspired realization by the present inventors that the explosive and unrelenting adoption by hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people of the cellular cell phone as the primary communication device, requires renewed focus on its charger circuitry and on the method and approach to charging cell phones, PDAs, and mobile communication devices generally.
Personal computing and communication devices such as the familiar cell phone, or the digital communication devices such as the famous Blackberry® and similar devices have been uniquely designed to be hand-held. They generally have a box-like, rectangular shape with a specific height, width and thickness dimensions that vary from device to device. The width of the typical cell phone is generally in the range from 4 to 7 centimeters or even 8 cm, with a height of approximately 10 cm and a thickness on the order of from 7 to 20 mm.
These devices are provided, as a rule, with a charging port in the form of a small connector within a wall socket measuring on the order of 2 to 3 mm in depth and about 7 mm in length. In a typical application, users are provided with separate charging devices, which consist of a charger body from with an AC electrical plug with a pair of prongs that can be inserted into an AC wall socket carrying 115v or 220v, and a long cable which terminates in a diminutive charging plug which can be inserted into the charging socket of the portable cell phone or like device. Such chargers are sometimes provided with a charger body which is designed to fit into an automobile 12 volt (or similar) DC power source, which power source is then converted to a voltage which is compatible with the voltage and current requirements of the particular mobile device.
Carrying around these charging devices is bothersome and annoying. Men typically carry their mobile devices either in their pockets or tethered to their belts. They do not typically lug around bothersome chargers, which they usually keep either on their office desks or at home. With women, the situation is a bit easier because they often carry their portable cell phones in their handbags, which provide more space to also store the battery charger. But the annoyance still remains because the long cable and the charger do not lend themselves to easy and neat keeping in a pocket or in a handbag. All too often, men and women find themselves in situations where their cell phone is about to become fully discharged with no convenient means of charging them.
To the present inventors' knowledge, the prior art has not conceived of and has certainly not provided a means which allows the mobile device to incorporate within its body or be mechanically integrated with a charging device which becomes part of the cell phone, and which allows the electrical plug to be swung out from within the cell phone and to be directly inserted into an 115/220 volt AC wall socket.